The Bulls' tank looked like it was on life support with Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, Nikola Mirotic and the rest of the crew rolling. But Dunn's concussion and the Bulls' subsequent nosedive has the Bulls back to only one win above the fifth-worst Phoenix Suns.

The way the Bulls are playing, a high draft pick looks like it's back on the table. They weren't competitive in three of their four games and lost the fourth game anyway in double overtime. It's been a wild season that has alternated between great and unwatchable basketball, with little in between. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your views on this season), the Bulls are back to playing some of their worst ball of the year.

Games

Monday, Jan. 22:The Bulls lost an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and the game in double overtime to the New Orleans Pelicans by a score of 132-128.

Wednesday, Jan. 24: The Bulls never led and were down by double digits the entire second half in a 115-101 blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Friday, Jan. 26:It's rare that a team makes 17-of-36 3-pointers and doesn't win the game. But that's what the Bulls did against the Los Angeles Lakers, losing 108-103 in a sloppy performance.

Sunday, Jan. 28:The Bulls lost their fourth straight in a 110-96 blowout to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Do the Bulls even need a point guard while Dunn is out?

The Bulls' offense has been putrid with Dunn out of the lineup. Their 99.4 offensive rating in games last week was worse than the Sacramento Kings' league-low 100.1 season mark.

The problems with the offense are very clearly related to two things: incorporating Zach LaVine into the offense and weak point guard play from Jerian Grant and Ryan Arcidiacano.

Grant's numbers look good at first glance. He averaged 13 points and seven assists on 55 percent shooting last week. But he lost Monday's game against the Pelicans with five crucial turnovers after the third quarter and he's struggled with mindbogglingly bad turnovers as a starter.

“We’re a much better team when we get the ball up the floor quickly, and Kris Dunn is our best pace guard. He’s our best player out of flow,” Hoiberg said. “We can create things early in possessions and we’re missing that in a big way.”

Arcidiacano has gotten a great opportunity to show what he's got and while he's made some nice passes, his passivity has been an even worse problem than Grant's over-dribbling. He had zero points in 32 minutes last week and still hasn't even attempted a shot in the paint all season. That's not due to a lack of opportunity — he's passed up wide-open layups and hasn't even tried to take big men off the dribble.

The Bulls' best option at point guard has been when they've gone with no point guard on the floor at all. Hoiberg experimented with David Nwaba and Denzel Valentine alternating as lead guards, and that duo posted a plus-8 in 3:09 against the Lakers on Friday. Markkanen has also gotten a shot at bringing the ball up, and he's done OK in that role.

Those aren't really long-term solutions, and if Dunn is going to be out for an extended period of time then the Bulls will continue to lose games in his absence.

Zach LaVine looking rough

Hoiberg has also tried LaVine as a point guard at times, and he's had some good creation for teammates. But Hoiberg recognizes that LaVine isn't a full-time point guard and said after Sunday's loss that he planned to use LaVine mostly at shooting guard to help him focus on that role.

Keeping LaVine's role as simple as possible is probably a good idea. He has struggled with shot selection, and he was just 20-of-58 on the week. LaVine has forced up a ton of pull-up jumpers rather than getting shots in the flow of the offense and while he's capable of making tough shots, those shouldn't be his default option early in the clock.

The Bulls developed into a beautiful group to watch by cutting way down on isolations. Only the San Antonio Spurs and Sixers have run fewer isolation plays this season. But Grant and LaVine are first and third in isolation frequency among the regular rotation players, and the offense has bogged down considerably with their increased minutes.

LaVine has said he will try to shoot his way out of his slump. That's the wrong approach. He should instead focus on taking better shots and studying how and when to move the ball. He is experiencing a level of freedom that he didn't really have playing behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, but he can't use that as a permanent green light.

Denzel Valentine, tough shot maker

Valentine was one of the few bright spots for the Bulls last week. He strung together two of the best games of his career with 16 points and 11 rebounds on Friday against the Lakers and 18 points on Sunday against the Bucks.

Valentine is tough to evaluate because he has a game unlike any other player in the NBA. His value has come from hitting 41 percent of his pull-up 3-pointers, which is the eighth-highest mark in the league. He's also made a living off scoop shots and push floaters that look like they have no chance of going in yet find a way to the bottom of the net. Valentine hit four of them in the first half alone against the Bucks.